A Metairie woman was shot dead in front of her home this morning in a blighted neighborhood near Mike Miley Playground.

Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies said Jackie Craig, 24, wounded in the chest, was pronounced dead at the scene outside 319 Eisenhower Ave. They had no immediate suspects or motive. Witnesses reported hearing Craig arguing with someone, then gunshots rocked the street.

Deputies were called about 5 a.m. to the 300 block of Eisenhower on a report of gunshots in the area, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said in a press release Friday morning.

The body of a female was discovered lying in front of
319 Eisenhower, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the release.

The shooting was the 27th murder in unincorporated Jefferson Parish this year.

The block is one that has irked neighbors for years.

Eisenhower between Airline Drive and West Metairie Avenue is littered with rundown, burned-out and partially abandoned apartment buildings. Residents of tidier streets nearby consider them a drag on the Airline Park subdivision. Another person was shot and killed on Eisenhower in November, and sheriff's deputies are regularly summoned to the street to investigate guns, drugs and fistfights.

The street has turned so ugly that parish officials in 2005 launched a campaign to buy up its blighted properties, pull down the decaying buildings and develop recreational facilities to go with the offerings at nearby Mike Miley Playground and LaSalle Park.

Anyone with information on Craig's shooting death may call the Sheriff's Office homicide division at (504) 364-5300.